A Superior Court judge has thrown out the lawsuit against the Disney organization regarding unpaid royalties on Winnie the Pooh. The ruling states that the plaintiffs (the company that controls licensing rights) had unlawfully obtained certain documents. I have no idea if that's so but I did wince when I read this quote from Daniel Petrocelli, the lead lawyer for Disney…
After 13 years in the courts, the Winnie the Pooh case is finally over. Disney's position has been vindicated in its entirety. We're obviously extremely pleased with the outcome and we think it was the only appropriate one.
Uh, no. First off, the case may not be over because it will be appealed and may be reinstated. No case is over until appeals are exhausted.
But more to the point, this case was about one party, Stephen Slesinger Inc., claiming that it was owed certain royalties. The Disney position was that under the terms of the contract, they did not owe these royalties. Today's ruling doesn't go anywhere near that area of the dispute, so how could Disney's position be "vindicated in its entirety?" If this decision does hold up, they'll have won because the Slesinger folks did something unlawful in obtaining some papers, not because the claim of royalties was without merit.
I find this disappointing because I really admired Petrocelli for his work on the second O.J. Simpson trial. What a shame to find out that underneath all that heroism, he's just another lawyer.